Hello everyone! It’s springtime again, a glorious season of mud and frolicking animals and grilling out and farmer tans and depressed ski bums and all the things that make spring so magical and glorious. I’m actually writing this article while wearing a bunny costume, which is the Spring-iest thing I own. (Why do I own…
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Episode 2 from our new Difficult Conversations series! This video discusses how to approach a colleague or employee whose odor has become distracting to the rest of his/her team. The “how to screw this up” part of the video is flat-out hilarious, but you’ll also get a solid understanding of how to phrase your side…
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Many of you know because of my last post that my wife and I recently went to Bolivia for 10 days to visit her sister, who is volunteering for a year in Potosi. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s because you’re normal – I couldn’t have named a single Bolivian town before we started…
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Many of you know that I recently took a trip to Bolivia with my wife and her family. It was an amazing trip and a place I never thought I’d visit. One of the coolest places we visited was Salar de Uyuni, which is the largest salt flats in the world located near the crest…
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By now everyone on the planet has officially shared their opinion about the issue of work-life balance. Everybody seems to be trying to find a work-life solution that will afford them happiness. But happiness is hard, and how exactly would you define ‘happiness’? Aristotle wrote a whole book on the subject, and I barely understand…
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Based on the articles being published today, the generational war has finally whittled itself down into a workable dichotomy. It used to be that we waxed rhapsodic about the nuances of our nation’s four generations, each one a special snowflake of unique skills and talents. But now we’ve finally narrowed it down into the only…
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Victory is mine! After six months of living in Old Mexico, I am finally moving back home. Texas is a magical place – I saw a pterodactyl for one thing, and I even attended my first rodeo, which is where I learned that I know absolutely nothing about ranching. My wife is coming back with…
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I want to thank Twitter for this because I won’t have to write too many words. Last year the #5WordsToRuinADate hashtag became popular. Then The Huffington Post published an article called #5WordsToRuinAJobInterview. But then they only put about 6 examples. Really, Huffpo? Is that all you can come up with? So here you go, folks…
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Hi, all. I want you to know that there are approximately 843 things I would rather be doing than writing this article. It’s nice outside, so there’s all that stuff – walking, running, bicycling, bird-watching, sunbathing, boating, staring at people who are boating, etc. It’s also nice inside, which means I could be reading or…
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I’m sure you’ve heard of the self-made individual, the never-say-die maverick who stands firm in the face of daunting odds and triumphs over every adversity. America is built on the backs of such people – the penniless immigrant who dies a railroad baron, the intrepid pioneer who tamed the savage West. In fact, we idolize…
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I’m about to end a six-month stint living in Freeport, Texas. My house, and 90% of my stuff, are back in Michigan, but I’ve been here since September because my wife has been working on a temporary assignment at one of her company’s Texas facilities. Having moved frequently in the last few years, I came…
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Last month I had the pleasure of working for King’s Hawaiian, the people who make rolls and hamburger buns so delicious that it’s quite possible their secret ingredient is illegal. It turned out to be one of the more enjoyable jobs of my career; I spent the entire day with them, was given a factory…
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Hello, all! I’m writing this to you from my “second office,” which is my fancy code word for “tiny baby plane seat.” The person next to me smells like nothing, which is a definite positive (I mean seriously, when was the last time you were on a plane and said, ‘Wow, my seatmate smells AMAZING!!!!’),…
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Hi everyone! Matt Havens here again. Last month I stepped in for Jeff to talk about performance reviews. Since nobody screamed too loud about how awful it was (or at least not loud enough for me to hear) I’m back for another round to see if I can ratchet up the volume. So please share…
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We brought back Part 1 last month and here is the follow-up. We interviewed real Human Resource executives across the country about the amazingly stupid things people do or say in job interviews, and this video is the first installment illustrating a few of our favorite stories. Let us know your best HR interview stories…
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I’d like to apologize to the airline industry. I’m sorry, airline industry, because I’m about to make fun of you. Well let me clarify – I’m not sorry, because you’re doing something dumb that I wish you’d stop doing – but I’m afraid you guys will end up being the targets of a disproportionate number…
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Somewhere pretty close to 30 years ago, I learned how to ride a bicycle. I’d like to pretend that I remember such a pivotal moment in life like it was yesterday, but obviously that’s not true since I don’t even remember exactly when it happened. (Nor do I remember what I did yesterday.) But here’s…
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The Price of Focusing Too Much on ‘Greatness’ So yet another Steve Jobs movie came out a few months ago. I think that makes four of them now, which I believe is two more than necessary in order for a person to be properly mythologized. If there is a fifth movie (and there probably will…
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So last month I went to Jamaica for the first time, where I was keynoting a conference for a bunch of folks from Indiana who had shrewdly decided that Jamaica is a slightly sexier winter hangout than Fort Wayne. Now before you get mad at me and start throwing rocks or pickles or whatever happens…
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Hi everyone! Matt Havens here stepping in for Jeff this month. Jeff and I had the opportunity to catch up in Austin, TX this past weekend (stay weird, Austin, which doesn’t seem to be a problem of yours by the way) and along the way he and I got to talking about something which we…
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Greetings, all! I’m writing this from the back of a giraffe. I’m upside down, too, since that makes the blood flow to my head more quickly. Oh, and I’m wearing a toga that I hand-crafted from a World War II parachute. I’m doing this because I’m a maverick who thinks outside the box. Also because…
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